Access equipment

ABSTRACT

Access equipment having an articulated boom structure comprising two or more booms pivoted end to end, the lowermost boom being pivotally mounted on a supporting structure such as a vehicle, the boom structure being movable between a stowed position wherein said boom are located adjacent the supporting structure and a working position wherein the free end of the boom structure is raised to an elevated position above the supporting structure, characterised by the provision of a ladder extending alongside each of a pair of adjacent booms, said ladders being arranged on opposite sides respectively of said pair of booms and there being a landing at the knuckle joint between said booms and extending between the two ladders so as to provide easily negotiable means for a person to pass from one ladder to the other.

[4 1 Apr. 2, 1974 I 1 ACCESS EQUIPMENT [75] Inventor: Denis HenryAshworth, Dudley,

England [73] Assignee: Simon Engineering Dudley Limited, Cheshire,England I22] Filed: July 24, 1972 [21 1 Appl. No.: 274,247

I30] Foreign Application Priority Data Aug. 13, l97l Great Britain v.38l8l/7l [52] US. Cl 182/65, 182/2, 182/115, 182/127 [51] Int. Cl. E06c5/06 [58] Field of Search 182/2, 129, 115, 63,127; 182/67, 65

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,252,542 5/1966 Trump3,262,517 7/l966 Malec 182/2 3,584,703 6/l97l Lane 182/2 PrimaryExaminer-Reinaldo P. Machado Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Norris & Bateman[57] ABSTRACT Access equipment having an articulated boom structurecomprising two or more booms pivoted end to end, the lowermost boombeing pivotally mounted on a supporting structure such as a vehicle, theboom structure being movable between a stowed position wherein said boomare located adjacent the supporting structure and a working positionwherein the free end of the boom structure is raised to an elevatedposition above the supporting structure, characterised by the provisionof a ladder extending alongside each of a pair of adjacent booms, saidladders being arranged on opposite sides respectively of said pair ofbooms and there being a landing at the knuckle joint between said boomsand extending between the two ladders so as to provide easily negotiablemeans for a person to pass from one ladder to the other.

9 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures ACCESS EQUIPMENT This invention concernsaccess equipment of the kind (hereinafter termed of the kind referredto) having an articulated boom structure comprising two or more boomspivoted'end to end, the lowermost boom being pivotally mounted on asupporting structure such as a vehicle, the boom structure being movablebetween a stowed position wherein said booms are located adjacent thesupporting structure and a working position wherein the free end of theboom structure is raised to an elevated position above the supportingstructure.

Access equipment of the kind referred to is frequently provided with aworking platform or cage on the free end of the boom structure which canbe manned by an operator or alternatively is provided with equipment onthe free end of the boom structure which may require an operator'sattendance from time to time.

Access equipment of the kind referred to is known wherein a ladderextends alongside each boom to serve as a continuous access or escapefacility whereby personnel can climb up or down the boom structurebetween the free end thereof and the ground or other safe landing area,and whereby an operator can escape from the freeend of the boomstructure in the event of failure of the system 'used to lower same. Theladders are disposed on the same or opposite sides of adjacent booms.

A problem with such a ladder arrangement lies in the difficulty which isencountered in crossing over from one ladder to the next at the knucklejoint between adjacent booms. This is particularly prevalent withunskilled personnel and makes the ladder arrangement unsuitable forrescuing persons from a burning building for example. Such persons can,of course, be rescued by loading them into a cage at the free end of theboom structure and lowering the structure, but in many instances it isdesirable to have a continuous escape facility as is provided by aconventional fire fighting ladder.

It is an object of the present invention to provide access equipment ofthe kind referred to which is equipped with ladders to provide acontinuous escape facility and which overcomes the problem aforesaid.

According to the present invention access equipment of the kind referredto is characterised by the provision of a ladder extending alongsideeach of a pair of adjacent booms, said ladders being arranged onopposite sides respectively of said pair of booms and there being alanding at the knuckle joint between said booms and extending betweenthe two ladders so as to provide easily negotiable means for a person topass from one ladder to the other.

Preferably said landing forms part of or is connected with aparallelogram-type linkage whereby the landing is maintained level forany angular separation of the adjacent booms.

The invention will be further apparent from the following description,with reference to the several figures of the accompanying drawings whichshow, by way of example only, one form of access equipment of the kindreferred to and embodying the invention.

Of the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the equipment;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of part of the equipment of FIG. 1; I

FIG. 3 is a cross section through the equipment on the line IIIIII ofFIG. 2 and showing the ladder means in an operative position;

and FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but with the ladder means in astowed position.

Referring now to the drawings, it will be seen that the equipmentcomprises a vehicle 10 having a turntable structure 11 mounted thereonwhich provides a supporting structure for a first boom 12 pivoted to theturntable structure 11 at 13. A second boom 14 is pivoted at 15 to theupper end of the first boom 12, and the free end of the boom 14 carriesa working platform or cage 16 pivotally connected thereto.

Hydraulically operable cylinders 17 and 18 enable the first boom 12 tobe pivoted with respect to the turntable 1 1 and the second boom 14 tobe pivoted with respect to the first boom 12 respectively, whereby thecage 16 can be raised and lowered between an elevated working positionand a stowed position adjacent the vehicle 10 when the booms 12 and 14are disposed in parallel horizontal relationship overlying the vehicle10.

Ladders 19 and 20 are provided and extend alongside the booms l2 and 14respectively, each on the opposite side of the pair of booms from theother. Each ladder is hingedly connected along its length with itsassociated boomandprovided with handrail means 21. Thus each ladder canbe folded between a working'position (as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3) and astowed position (as shown in FIG. 4) wherein the ladder and handrailmeans lie in juxtaposed relationship respectively with two sides of itsassociated boom.

A landing 22 providing easily negotiable means whereby a person may passfrom one ladder to the other is connected with the boom structure at theknuckle joint between the booms l2 and 14. The landing 22 is pivotallyconnected with the boom 12 at 15. A rod 23 extends between the landing22 and turntable structure 11 and is pivotally connected therewith at 24and 25 respectively. The turntable structure 11, boom 12, rod 23 andlanding 22 form a parallelogram-linkage (the points 15, 24, 13 and .25being located at the corners of a parallelogram) whereby the landing 22is maintained horizontally disposed throughout angular movement of theboom 12 relative to the turntable structure 11. A furtherparallelogram-linkage comprised by the boom 14, cage 16, landing 22 andconnecting rod 26 serves to maintain the cage 16 level for any positionsof the booms l2 and 14.

It will be seen therefore that the equipment provides readily negotiablemeans for personnel to climb between the cage and the vehicle when thecage is in an elevated position and more particularly provides acontinuous escape facility for rescuing persons from elevated positionswhich can be used by all but infants, the aged, or the infirm.

It will be appreciated that it is not intended to limit the invention tothe above example only, many variations such as might readily occur toone skilled in the art, being possible without departing from the scopethereof.

Thus, for example, the boom structure may comprise more than two booms,a ladder being provided for each boom and a landing being provided atthe junction between each pair of ladders.

It will be understood that when the boom structure is mounted on avehicle, the vehicle should be provided with extendable and retractableground engaging jacks to give the necessary stability to the vehicle tosupport the boom structure in all of its elevated working positions.

What is claimed is:

1. Access equipment comprising a boom assembly wherein upper and lowerbooms are transversely pivotally interconnected at a knuckle joint, saidbooms being relatively movable about the pivot at said joint between afolded position and an extended position wherein said upper boom extendsupwardly from an end of the lower boom, ladders mounted on and extendingsubstantially the length of each boom, said ladders being disposed onopposite sides of the respective booms and having adjacent ends at saidknuckle joint spaced apart transversely of the boom assembly, and meansproviding a landing mounted on said boom assembly at said knuckle jointextending transversely of the boom assembly substantially between theadjacent ladder ends whereby to provide easily negotiable access betweensaid ladders in the extended position of said booms.

2. Access equipment as defined in claim 1, wherein said landing ispivotally mounted on said lower boomv 3. Access equipment as defined inclaim 2, comprising a vehicle turntable on which the lower boom aspivoted at the end opposite said knuckle joint, and a rod pivotallyconnected at opposite ends between said turntable and said landing toform a parallelogram linkage system whereby said landing is maintainedsubstantially level during relative angular movements of said booms.

4. Access equipmentas defined in claim 1, wherein a working platform ispivotally mounted upon the free end of said upper boom adjacent the endof the ladder mounted on that boom.

5. Access equipment as defined in claim 4, comprising a parallelogramlinkage system that includes said landing and is connected to saidworking platform whereby both said landing and said working platform aremaintained substantially level for any relative angular positions ofsaid booms.

6. Access equipment according to claim 1 wherein each of said ladders isprovided with a handrail.

7. Access equipment according to claim 6 wherein each of said ladders ishingedly connected with its associated boom along its length whereby itcan be folded between an operative position and a stowed positionwherein the ladder and the handrail are juxtaposed with two sides of itsassociated boom respectively.

8. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the lowermost end of the boomstructure is pivotally connected with a vehicle mounted turntable.

9. Access equipment as defined in claim 1, comprising a parallelogramlinkage system that includes said landing as an element thereof wherebysaid landing is maintained substantially level for any relative angularpositions of said booms.

1. Access equipment comprising a boom assembly wherein upper and lowerbooms are transversely pivotally interconnected at a knuckle joint, saidbooms being relatively movable about the pivot at said joint between afolded position and an extended position wherein said upper boom extendsupwardly from an end of the lower boom, ladders mounted on and extendingsubstantially the length of each boom, said ladders being disposed onopposite sides of the respective booms and having adjacent ends at saidknuckle joint spaced apart transversely of the boom assembly, and meansproviding a landing mounted on said boom assembly at said knuckle jointextending transversely of the boom assembly substantially between theadjacent ladder ends whereby to provide easily negotiable access betweensaid ladders in the extended position of said booms.
 2. Access equipmentas defined in claim 1, wherein said landing is pivotally mounted on saidlower boom.
 3. Access equipment as defined in claim 2, comprising avehicle turntable on which the lower boom as pivoted at the end oppositesaid knuckle joint, and a rod pivotally connected at opposite endsbetween said turntable and said landing to form a parallelogram linkagesystem whereby said landing is maintained substantially level duringrelative angular movements of said booms.
 4. Access equipment as definedin claim 1, wherein a working platform is pivotally mounted upon thefree end of said upper boom adjacent the end of the ladder mounted onthat boom.
 5. Access equipment as defined in claim 4, comprising aparallelogram linkage system that includes said landing and is connectedto said working platform whereby both said landing and said workingplatform are maintained substantially level for any relative angularpositions of said booms.
 6. Access equipment according to claim 1wherein each of said ladders is provided with a handrail.
 7. Accessequipment according to claim 6 wherein each of said ladders is hingedlyconnected with its associated boom along its length whereby it can befolded between an operative position and a stowed position wherein theladder and the handrail are juxtaposed with two sides of its associatedboom respectively.
 8. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein thelowermost end of the boom structure is pivotally connected with avehicle mounted turntable.
 9. Access equipment as defined in claim 1,comprising a parallelogram linkage system that includes said landing asan element thereof whereby said landing is maintained substantiallylevel for any relative angular positions of said booms.